Editorial: Sever these connections

Several questions need to be answered in the wake of the arrest of Christopher Falco, a Quincy public works employee with a history of run-ins with the law.

Several questions need to be answered in the wake of the arrest of Christopher Falco, a Quincy public works employee with a history of run-ins with the law.
But foremost of those inquiries should be why was he hired in the first place and, with this most recent arrest, why is he still working when other city employees have been suspended for lesser infractions?
Falco, 26, is the son of retired Quincy police chief William Falco. While it is unfair to visit the sins of the son onto the father, it is legitimate to speculate that the younger Falco may not have gotten the job were his name Smith and he had no ties with prominent city officials.
Christopher Falco, who lives in Weymouth, was hired in 2005 to, in part, drive trucks for the Department of Public Works – despite the fact his license had been suspended six times in four years for a variety of violations.
In 2002, the Registry of Motor Vehicles labeled Falco a “habitual traffic offender” because of the 21 citations he received between 1998 and 2002.
But the roads do not appear to be Christopher Falco’s only nemesis. In 2003, he was found guilty of assault and battery and he is awaiting trial on a charge from the Attorney General’s office of falsely using a dead man’s identity in 2004 to fraudulently obtain car insurance.
On that basis alone, serious questions should have been raised about the appropriateness of hiring the repeat offender. But if that was not enough, his license was suspended in September for two months after he refused a chemical test following his arrest on yet another drunken driving charge. It was restored in November after he was cleared of the charges.
But he continued to work in a job that required him to have a valid driver’s license and operate heavy equipment.
And now we have the latest arrest. Falco was arrested and charged last weekend with suspicion of drunken driving about an hour after he got off work.
He was arrested at his ex-girlfriend’s house, where he was barred because of a restraining order. The woman told police Falco had called and and sent text messages numerous times throughout the night saying he was drinking at various bars, calls made while he was on the clock, according to city sources.
Falco refused a sobriety test, triggering another automatic 180-day suspension. The ex-girlfriend told Patriot Ledger reporter Jennifer Mann Falco appeared “wasted.”
And yet Falco, who was arraigned on Christmas Eve, is back on the job, without a license that requires one.
This is a slam-dunk. Falco should be suspended and the city needs to have some backbone in removing him from the payroll permanently.
There cannot be dual standards for unconnected employees and sons and daughters of high-ranking officials with ties to city hall. It not only sends the wrong message to the rest of the city’s workforce, it is an affront to Quincy’s taxpayers.
The Patriot Ledger